Grandin: Public Remarkably Uninformed

Grandin: Public Remarkably Uninformed

Chris Clayton

DTN

Fame from a movie about her life hasn’t prevented animal scientist Temple Grandin from offering straight talk about the continued need for improved handling practices in the cattle industry.

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Animal Care A Top Priority at The Indiana State Fair

Animal Care A Top Priority at The Indiana State Fair

Gary Truitt

Hoosier AG Today

The heat is on as temperatures moved into the mid to upper 90s across the state. Hot, humid weather and the Indiana State Fair go hand in hand; but, with the heat index soaring above 100, there is concern about the health of the thousands of animals who are living at the Fair.

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Flap over cloned beef alarms Britain

Flap over cloned beef alarms Britain

Raphael G. Satter

Detroit News

News that meat and milk from the offspring of cloned cattle — illegal to sell here without proper authorization — may have made their way into the U.K. food chain has set hands wringing in Britain, a country still sensitive from its experience with mad cow disease.

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Government Asked to Take Action on Beef Checkoff

Government Asked to Take Action on Beef Checkoff

Hoosier AG Today

  In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong, 29 groups have formally requested urgent and decisive action to protect against misuse of National Beef Checkoff Program dollars by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

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Fly populations: Facts, control tips

Fly populations: Facts, control tips

Delta George

Fort Scott Tribune

In many animal production facilities, fly populations are continuing to increase. Before fly control can be effective, it is important to know which species of fly is causing problems. For Kansas cattle, there are three major species that can be pests for cattle on pasture –stable flies, face flies, and horn flies.

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Poll shows continued support for Beef Checkoff

Poll shows continued support for Beef Checkoff

Drovers

Seventy-two percent of beef and dairy producers continue to be “somewhat” or “very” well informed about the program and 72 percent approve of the checkoff, according to a recent survey of producers. The survey also found that more than 6 in 10 producers believe it is well-managed, helps contribute to the profitability of their operations and allows for the representation of their viewpoints.

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Technofiction Thoughts on Ethical Issues – Part Nine: Animal Rights

Technofiction Thoughts on Ethical Issues – Part Nine: Animal Rights

Buzzle.com

The Animal Rights movement is a not-so-surprising consequence of living in a prosperous society.

As a community grows richer it has more resource available for discretionary activities. Some of those discretionary resources are used for material things such as better food, shelter and transportation, some pay for more government in the form of more taxes being paid and more cost-raising regulations on social conduct, and some allow for more varied ways of thinking about things – more education for all, and representative government instead of one of the top-down forms.

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Big cow numbers being slaughtered

Big cow numbers being slaughtered

The Westerner

Yesterday’s mention of beef cow slaughter brought to mind a conundrum with which I have grappled for the past few weeks — Why are we slaughtering so many beef cows?

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$1 per animal raises millions each year

$1 per animal raises millions each year

Omaha World Herald

The Nebraska Beef Council and the Iowa Beef Industry Council collect $1 each time a beef animal is sold in each state.

The Nebraska checkoff produces more than $9 million annually for marketing, research and education programs. Iowa produces about $3.2 million. Half of each dollar collected goes to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. State councils determine how the rest is spent.

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Chuck and Round Could Be the Shape of things to Come

Chuck and Round Could Be the Shape of things to Come

Wes Ishmael

Cattle Today

In the mid-1960’s, when about 42 percent of the total beef and dairy cattle slaughter was grass-fed, Bill Helming, veteran and respected agricultural economist and agribusiness consultant came to a startling and contrarian prediction.

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AMI Reaffirms Safety Of Nitrite, Processed Meats

AMI Reaffirms Safety Of Nitrite, Processed Meats

Thebeefsite.com

The American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF) said a study published in the journal Cancer that links nitrite and nitrate intake from processed meats to a potential increased risk of bladder cancer is the latest example of “nutrition whiplash” facing consumers.

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Processed red meat tagged as possible cause of cancer

Processed red meat tagged as possible cause of cancer

Washington Post

Red meat is back under the spotlight as a possible cause of cancer with a U.S. study finding the chemicals that paint hot dogs pink and preserve cold cuts could also raise the risk of bladder cancer.

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29 Groups Call For Protections Against NCBA’s Misuse Of Beef Checkoff Dollars

29 Groups Call For Protections Against NCBA’s Misuse Of Beef Checkoff Dollars

CTN

R-CALF USA, along with several other groups, in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Phyllis K. Fong, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have formally requested urgent and decisive action to protect against misuse of National Beef Checkoff Program (Checkoff) dollars by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

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Trend toward higher-quality beef continues

Trend toward higher-quality beef continues

MeatPoultry.com

It was a roller-coaster ride in the cattle business the first half of 2010, but one positive trend remains a constant – the trend toward higher-quality beef, according to Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist with the Certified Angus Beef brand.

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Longer post-treatment intervals can equate to profits

Longer post-treatment intervals can equate to profits

Drovers

Post-treatment interval (PTI) may bring to mind a complicated series of mathematical equations, but it really comes down to a period of time when beef producers don’t have to do much more than keep an eye on their cattle — and that downtime can even put more dollars in their pockets.

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